The end of the beginning
by KatonRyu
Summary: OneShot fic, Ash is horribly beaten, and Misty's attempt to cheer him up ends in a fight.


**The end of the beginning**

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters.

"Charizard, do something!" Ash yelled impatiently.

He couldn't believe what was happening, even though he should've been expecting this. Charizard _never_ listened to Ash. But despite the risk of complete humiliation, Ash had chosen to put him in his team anyway. Now it seemed he would have to pay the price.

"Venusaur, use Solar beam!" Ash's opponent yelled.

With a roar of power, Venusaur gathered power for the devastating attack. Charizard had been pounded by Venusaur's Body Slam and Vine Whip already, so if the Solar Beam hit, it would mean lights out for Charizard. Then the beam fired. Charizard just grinned defiantly and assumed a wide stance, his wings spread out to their full span. He took the beam right to the chest. Although he tried to maintain his stance, he was blown away instantly. He flew against the wall and slid down. He growled and tried to get up, but the fight was over.

"Charizard is unable to battle. Venusaur wins!" the announcer said.

"Ash has just one pokemon remaining," Misty said, as Ash called Charizard back. "Who do you think he'll send out Brock?" she asked.

"I dunno, I guess he'll go with Tauros or something," Brock answered. But both of them were stunned by Ash's real choice.

"Pikachu, go!" Ash said.

Deep down, Ash knew that winning would be hard. His opponents' Venusaur was extremely well trained. But Ash's biggest concern was the type disadvantage Pikachu had. His Thunderbolt attack wouldn't cause much damage on a grass type like Venusaur, so he'd have to do with physical attacks. But Pikachu's only physical attack was the Quick Attack, and that wasn't gonna do much damage.

"Pikachu, use your Quick Attack!" Ash said.

"Venusaur, use your Razor Leaf in a wide arc so that Pikachu will get hit regardless of his position," his opponent said.

The Razor Leafs sliced through the air like throwing stars. Most of them missed. But some flew straight toward Pikachu.

"Pikachu, jump and use Thunder!" Ash said, hoping to catch his opponent off guard. It turned out that it was the worst decision he'd ever made.

"Venusaur, use your vines to grab Pikachu and do Seismic Toss," Ash's nemesis said calmly.

Pikachu didn't even have time to start her Thunder attack. She was grabbed in mid-air by the vines and got slammed into the ground with crushing force. Pikachu howled in pain. "Now hold him with your Bind attack and charge up your Solar Beam."

"Pikachu, Thunder!" Ash yelled, panicked now from the thought of Pikachu getting hit from such short range. Pikachu used her last strength to create a devastating thunderbolt that struck Venusaur. But it didn't have the slightest effect, as Venusaur continued to charge up his attack.

"Now, fire," his master said impassively.

"NOOO! PIKACHU GET OUT OF THERE!" Ash yelled. But it was too late. The Solar Beam hit Pikachu the instant Venusaur withdrew his vines. The little creature flew backward, crashing into the wall just like Charizard had.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Venusaur wins." The announcer declared.

"No…Pikachu…" Ash muttered. He felt like crying, only he couldn't. It was as if all his emotions were being sucked into a void, leaving a sadness behind that went way deeper than anything Ash had ever felt before. Way past crying. Way past yelling. And way past concern. Ash didn't even realize that he didn't care about Pikachu anymore all of a sudden. That he didn't care about anything at all anymore. But his emotions returned when he heard Misty say, "Pikachu, hang in there! You've been through worse…" The way to the pokemon center was a blur to Ash. He could only worry about Pikachu. He hoped that his little friend would be okay soon. It turned out that things had seemed far worse than they actually were.

"Pikachu will be fine, she just needs to rest a lot," Nurse Joy said. "I recommend going home with your Pikachu and take a break from fighting for a while."

"Yeah, I'll do that," Ash said. Now that he knew that Pikachu would be okay he began to feel guilty towards her. After all, it was him who made Pikachu fight. He could've given up. So by the time they got back to Pallet Town, Ash was really depressed again. He locked himself inside his room and refused to come out.

"He has to snap out of this," Misty said. She was worried about Ash, worried that he might do something that would screw him up even more. Of course she felt sorry for him that he hadn't made the next round, but there was also something else. Something she had felt for a long time. And that something is what made her go up to Ash's room.

She knew that this could end in an argument over absolutely nothing, but she had to take that risk. She always argued with Ash over everything, but she cared about him a lot. More than that, actually…

Misty took a deep breath and entered Ash's room. He was lying on his bed, playing with the cap he always wore.

"Hey Ash, Brock and I are going to the beach, you wanna come?" she asked. There was no reply. "Hello? Ash? Are you listening to me?"

"Huh? What?" Ash asked, not even interested in what Misty said.

"I said, are you coming with us to the beach?"

"No."

Misty looked at Ash with a frown, it wasn't like him to be so quiet. Even when he lost battles, he kept his optimism. Why was this so different, Misty wondered. Sure, it had been the Pokemon League, but it was an early round, not even close to the finals yet. Out of curiosity, Misty asked, "Why are you so upset? Pikachu is okay again and you'll have another shot next year."

"None of your business," Ash said. He'd said it harsher than he'd intended, but he didn't care.

"Come on Ash, you've lost before. Why is this such a big deal?"

"Leave me alone," Ash said. He was getting angry now. Misty, too was losing her patience. And that caused her to say something she shouldn't have said. "Get a life, Ash. If you're going to sulk in your room for the rest of your life, than you deserve to lose in the Pokemon League. Than Charizard is right to ignore you. Than you might as well stop training, cause than you'll never be a good Trainer!" Misty was hit by a wave of guilt almost immediately after she said those words. "Ash, I…I" she began, her voice breaking.

"Go away," Ash said with shocking calm. "Just go away, Misty. I don't want to see you ever again."

Misty felt the cold in her whole body. She suddenly felt sick. With tears filling up her eyes, Misty ran down the stairs and out the front door. When she reached the small park close to Ash's house, she stopped and threw up. She had never felt so beaten in her entire life. She walked on, crying, and sobbed, "Ash…what have I done?"

She went to the beach and sat at the shore line. She cried for a long time, eventually falling asleep on the beach. Since it was flood when she got there, she didn't have the risk of being woken up by a wave. Meanwhile, back at Ash's place things were getting even worse. Immediately after Misty had ran out of his room, Ash had broken down at last. He too felt worse than he had ever felt before. He cried in his pillow, not wanting Pikachu to see his tears. But Pikachu felt just as sad as he did. His ice cold statement had had a destroying effect.

Brock entered Ash's room and said, "Ash, what happened? Why was Misty crying? Why are _you_ crying?"

"I'll never see her again…" Ash said in a thin voice.

Brock really wanted to know what had happened between Ash and Misty that had left them both so devastated. "What do you mean?" Brock asked.

"I…I told her I never wanted to see her again," Ash said, in that same fragile voice.

"What?! Why?" Brock asked, really surprised by this. Brock _knew_ that Misty was more to Ash than just a friend, and that Ash was more to Misty than just a friend, too. That Ash and Misty loved each other. And yet, Ash had told her he never wanted to see her again. But why? Why had Ash told the person he loved more than anything that he never wanted to see her again?

"Ash, answer me!" Brock said. "Why did you say that?!"

"I…she…we…" Ash stammered. "I just…and then she…"

"Calm down Ash. Just tell me, step by step, what happened," Brock said.

But Ash couldn't find the words. He was so shocked by what he had done that he couldn't think of anything else anymore. And yet, he was unable to utter a single word about it.

"Okay, let's try something else," Brock said, knowing that he wouldn't find out the reason anyway. "Do you know where she might be?" Ash just shook his head. He still couldn't believe what he had said to Misty.

"Think Ash. Where could she have gone?" Brock asked again.

"I don't know," Ash said. "I really don't know…" Ash started to cry again.

Brock saw that Ash was really screwed up. And he had no idea where Misty might have gone. "Oh, crap," he muttered to no-one. He left Ash to his misery and went back down, where Delia and Professor Oak were waiting for him.

"What is…" Delia began.

"Ash told Misty that he never wanted to see her again," Brock said flatly.

"Why would Ash do such a thing?" Prof Oak wondered aloud.

"I don't know. He won't say anything about it," Brock replied. "But he's really screwed up by it. He's completely destroyed by his grief. When I asked him where he thought Misty was he just broke down again."

"We have to find her," Delia said.

"I know, but where are we gonna look? We don't have a lead," Brock said, sounding sad.

"Maybe she went back to the Cerulean Gym," Delia suggested.

"No. If she'd go back her sisters would only make fun of her," Brock said. "For some reason I feel that Ash knows, or at least suspects, where she is."

"Then we'll go talk to him right now," Delia said. The resolution in her voice reminded Brock of how Ash usually was. Despite the situation, he smiled.

"Ash, where is Misty?!" Delia asked angrily.

"I don't know…"

"That's nonsense Ash. You must have some idea of where she is."

"I'm telling you, I don't know," Ash said. With the last word his voice broke again.

"Well, I guess we'll just look for her ourselves, then." Delia said. Brock and the Professor nodded in agreement. "I'll check the park. Professor, you search the town and Brock, you go to the beach," Delia said, immediately taking the lead. No-one argued with her.

Brock went down to the beach with the path next to Ash's house. It was getting dark already, so he used Vulpix as a pokemon flashlight. He walked down the beach, yelling Misty's name. Not too far away, Misty woke up to the sound of Brocks voice. No, they can't find me, she thought. She stood up, brushed the sand from her clothes and ran. There were bushes farther down the beach; they could serve as a temporary hideout. Misty reached the bushes and crawled in. She got a couple of scratches from the thorns, but she didn't want to be found.

Meanwhile, Brock thought he heard something and went to check it out. When he got to the place where he had heard the sound he saw that the sand was flattened, almost as if someone had been lying there. Then he saw the footprints. Brock almost smiled. He was almost certain that they belonged to Misty, but he couldn't be sure until he followed them. He didn't hesitate and followed the trail. When he came to some bushes, he saw that the footprints were leading _into_ the bushes. Brock walked up to them and said, "You can come out now Misty. I've found you."

There was no reply. "Misty, I know you're in there," he said again.

He searched the bushes, but Misty was nowhere to be seen. When he wanted to continue down the beach, he saw that a broad piece of beach was more like a mud bath. Then he realized it. Misty head used one of her pokemon to erase her tracks. "Clever…" Brock muttered.

Back in the house, Ash had made up his mind. He had stopped crying and he was getting ready to go and find Misty. After thinking for a long time, Ash had figured out where Misty would've gone. "Come on Pikachu, we're gonna look for Misty. I'm gonna apologize to her," Ash said.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu said. Ash didn't bother to leave a note, since he had no intention of letting anyone disturb him. He left the house and walked down the beach.

Suddenly he saw the flame of Brock's Vulpix, and he realized that he would have to find a way around him. He backtracked and headed into the park. His mother almost spotted him, but he managed to hide just in time. Once he was past his mother he walked to the second path to the beach. He kept following the coastline until he reached the end of the beach. Somewhere, hidden between the rocks, there was a path up the cliff, which he had long ago discovered. No-one knew about it and he had always kept it a secret to everyone. Even his mom didn't know.

But one other person knew about it. Ash had told Misty about the path when they were in Pallet Town before going to the Pokemon League. At the end of the path was a long forgotten monument and it was the best place to go if you wanted a great view. When he showed it to Misty, he made her promise not to tell anyone about it, and she'd agreed to it. She had said that it was the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen. Ash knew she was there. With a little trouble, he found the path. On the edge of the cliff he saw Misty. She was staring across the sea and looked very sad. Ash felt guilty again, but then he shook it off and walked over to her. "Hey," he said. Misty didn't respond. Ash hadn't expected her to. "I…I…I want to…I'm sorry Misty," Ash said, looking really uneasy saying it. "I didn't mean what I said. I…I can't stand the thought of…never seeing you again," he continued.

"How can anything so easy ever be so hard to say?" Misty asked him.

"Um…I don't know," Ash replied.

"I'm sorry too Ash. I didn't mean what I said either. I wanted to tell you, but you didn't give me the chance," Misty said.

"Well, I was really angry. But as soon as you were gone I lost myself. I realized that you're more than my best friend. I realized that I love you," Ash said, getting a head the same color as a Kingler's shell.

"I love you too Ash. That's why I became so upset. I…I couldn't go back home, and without you everything would be meaningless anyway," Misty said.

Ash's heart was racing. Had Misty just said that she loved him too? And that everything would be meaningless without him? He couldn't believe it, but he had never been happier in his whole life. Misty, too, was surprised. She knew Ash liked her, but she'd never guess that he'd just confess his love to her. For a while they just looked across the sea in silence, then Misty decided to do what she'd always wanted to do. She kissed Ash, and he kissed her back. And that night, neither Ash nor Misty worried about anything.

THE END


End file.
